The co-founder of Sycamore Partners — the voracious buyout shop that counts Hot Topic and Talbots among its recent acquisitions — gave the teen retailer’s board a heads-up before disclosing an 8-percent stake on Tuesday, sources told The Post.

Kaluzny signaled to the board he has no immediate plans of pursuing a takeover of the struggling company — hostile or otherwise, according to a source close to the situation.

“He wants a seat at the table in case anything happens. He doesn’t want to be left out of the process,” the source said of Kaluzny, who co-founded Sycamore two years ago with Pete Morrow, a fellow alum of buyout firm Golden Gate Capital.

“He’s assuming one of two things going to happen: I’m either going to take it private or somebody else will,” the source said.

To be sure, Kaluzny has his hands full of late.

This month Sycamore is mulling a joint bid with KKR to buy Jones Group, the owner of Nine West and Stuart Weitzman.

The friendly dialogue with Aeropostale stands in stark contrast to Kaluzny’s courtship of Talbots last year, which led to a testy battle with the board before he took it private for $391 million.

Nevertheless, another source noted that Kaluzny is “a private-equity firm, not a hedge fund,” and that an eventual takeover attempt is likely. A spokesman for Sycamore declined to comment.

Insiders said Aeropostale’s board isn’t exploring strategic options for the company and isn’t interested in selling at current levels.

The shares — which have been hammered on worries about a weak back-to-school season — closed up 18.5 percent at $10.20.